Old Friends
by booker-babe
Summary: Taking place after the final battle in Season 7, Buffy is left alone in the shell of her former city as Dawn, Giles, and the others have split their separate ways to find themselves outside of the Hellmouth. With the return of a dear friend, Buffy makes her way out of Sunnydale in attempt to live like a normal girl.
1. Chapter 1

"Dawn, did you remember to pack your books?" Buffy's voice echoed through upstairs story of the Summers' house. Now that the potentials had cleared out after the big battle, it was obvious how much damage had been left behind in the last couple months. The windows were still boarded up, furniture lay smashed from fights pushed aside instead of repairing, and trash and crumbs left from late night snacks of teenage girls. "Dawn!" Buffy yelled again. "Did you hear me? Giles is going to be super British if you get all the way to Cleveland and forgot your copy of _Demons: Do's and Don'ts_." Buffy sprang up the stairs to her younger sister's room. "Also, you don't want to be unprepared..." her voice trailed off as she entered Dawn's room and saw the agitated look she glared at her.

"Buffy, seriously," Dawn began as she put one hand on her hip. "I've helped stopped the end of the world. Remember? I was there. In the hellmouth. You can stop treating me like a child any day now." The younger girl turned back to her last suitcase and continued adding stakes, holy water, and other weapons.

"I know," Buffy sighed. "It's just going to be different without you here. I mean, after the potentials were fully slayerized and we kicked the hellmouth's vamp filled ass, its been pretty empty here. Willow and Kennedy left for a magic retreat, Faith and Principal Wood are off in their honeymoon phase, and Spike and Anya..." The pain came back again. Sure, they lost some of the other girls, but Anya and Spike's deaths were the worst. Now it was just going to be Buffy alone in the house of rubble. "It's just going to be quiet."

Dawn stopped packing and turned to her sister. She held her arms out and embraced Buffy in a long, sisterly hug. Buffy was going to miss those hugs. "Buffy, I know this is a big change, like a huganimous change, but it's somthing I need to do. Something I want to do. I need to help more. Besides," she let go of her sister and turned back to her suitcase zipping it closed. "You could always come with us."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Buffy declined hastily. "I've been in a Hellmouth enough for one life. All three of mine, even." Dawns mouth curled into a soft smile at the tiny joke. Suddenly, the sound of a car door shutting echoed into the house. Not many of those around these parts anymore, seeing how most of Sunnydale got sucked into Hell after the big battle. It was a suprise to everyone to find some of the smaller businesses and houses still in tact after the gang return to investigate the rubble. The interrupting sound of the car door either meant Giles had arrived with his rental, or some tourists stopping by to find out why the Bronze and other sore sights to see were replaced by a city-sized crater. Suddenly, the downstairs door creaked open and shut. _Giles. Good._

"Dawn," the soft male voice filled the lower level of the quiet house. I don't suppose you're actually ready to depart for Ohio?" Giles seemed slightly skittish as he spoke. Probably too many memories brought to light by the state of the house. It was his first time back since before the battle. His footsteps began to ascend the staircase.

Dawn looked at Buffy with a soft, sad smile and grabbed her stuffed suitcase in one hand and flung a back pack over the opposite shoulder. "Yeah, Giles," she called out. "I'm ready to go."

"Remarkable," Giles exclaimed as he made his way into Dawn's bedroom. "I was beginning to believe the Summers women were incapable of being on time for anything short of the end of the world. Even then, one's attendance was more or less tardy."

Buffy gave Giles an annoyed look. "Hey, I wasn't always late." Dawn and Giles both shot her a look of incredulity. "Well, most of the time. My hair always looked great, though." All three exchanged smiles.

"Buffy," Giles began. "I figured I would extend another invitation for you to join Dawn and I on our journey. It may benefit to get you a, um, new setting away from all of this. These memories..."

"Are my memories, Giles," Buffy interrupted. "This is where I grew up, where I watched Dawn become the woman she is today. I met my friends here, I lost mom here, and I loved here. I'm not leaving here without a proper goodbye. Especially not to go to another hellmouthy place. Besides, I hear it's colder there. Buffy and snow, not mixey things."

Giles nodded slowly with a sad look on his face. "Well, in that case, I have come with gifts for you both, in order to help you cope with your distance." He handed both sisters a small, identical shaped box. "I know you have had them before, but Buffy's was long lost in patrol and I think Dawn is due for an upgrade, all things considered." Both sisters opened their boxes to find new cell phones, nearly identical, except Buffy's was all black and Dawn's was a soft purple. Each girls' favorite color. He really did think of it all.

"Oh my gosh, really?" Dawn nearly bursted with excitment as she pulled the phone from the box and turned it on.

"Thank you, Giles," Buffy spoke gratuitously. "I promise I'll try harder to not break this one." She sat the box down on the naked matress of Dawn's bed. Tears began to well in her eyes. "You two should probably get going soon." She paused to sniffle and wipe at her eyes. "Big evil is still brewing up in places that are no longer here."

Dawn started toward Buffy and embraced her in yet another deep hug. They had exchanged many of these hugs in the last few days. Buffy reached out for Giles and pulled him into the embrace. Her sister and her watcher. She loved them both and they were both leaving her alone in the exoskeleton of her city they all destroyed together to save the world. They stood silent shell of Dawn's former life before the apocalypse, death, and hellmouth for a long time. It was Buffy who finally broke the hold.

"I love you both," she said smiling sadly with tears still running down her cheeks. She turned to her young sister. "Please be safe, Dawnie. You're stronger now than you were, but don't forget rule number one."

"Don't die," Dawn replied with a half smile and a sniffle.

Buffy laughed into a loud sob, "Right. Don't die." She looked down at the phone box on the mattress. "Call me often."

"Every night if I can," Dawn affirmed.

Buffy now turned to Giles. They stared at each other sharing unspoken memories and well wishes. "Keep her safe," she said after a few minutes.

Giles nodded once, "With my life. Keep well."

"You too."

With the silence growing between the trio again, Buffy picked up Dawn's suitcase and helped her carry her luggage down the stairs and out to Giles's rental car. With the trunk packed tightly, and another quick sisterly embrace, Giles and Dawn entered the car and slowly pulled away, leaving Buffy standing in her doorway watching the car drive into the horizon.

Night fell quickly and Buffy had fallen asleep, reclined on the beaten down couch after a semi-determed attempt to clear away some of the remaining trash before she began packing of her own. A low roar of a car engine startled her out of her dreamless sleep as it grew louder and died outside of her silent home. She looked around in the deeply darkened living room. _Crap,_ she thought to herself. _No weapons nearby._ Cautiously, she rose form the couch and slowly crept to the door. As she tentatively reached for the knob, she heard the loud thud of boots on her porch. She twisted the knob and slowly pulled back the front door revealing the figure that stood on the other side.


	2. Chapter 2

Buffy stood face to face with the man on the opposite side of her front door. He was clothed in baggy pants, a dirty, worn out t-shirt, and a bulky jacket. Dark, shaggy hair curled around his brow and ears, slightly covering a dark eye patch on the left side of his face.

"Xander!" She cried out his name excitedly before joyous tears began forming in her eyes, daring to slide down her cheeks. She advanced him quickly and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. Xander let out a faint grunt, as the slayer strength squeezed the air out of him, before he folded his arms tightly around Buffy and tucked her head under his chin. "Where have you been? We've been so worried since you made with the absence?"

Xander released Buffy before he responded. "I took off. I needed to get away. After the excitement in the Hellmouth, and Anya. Well, I thought I would be okay, but when Will left with Kennedy, I just felt like I was losing too much. I had to make with the bailing." He looked at Buffy with sad eyes, from the sadness or from sympathy, she didn't know. "But I'm back to hang with my favorite Summers sisters."

"Sister," Buffy corrected him. "Singular. Dawn and Giles left earlier for next Hellmouth."

"Ah, that's right," Xander recalled. "The one in Cleveland."

"That's the one. Good, old Ohio. The Buckle State."

" _Buckeye State_ , Buff."

"Oh, right." Buffy and Xander still stood on the front porch in the darkness. Their playful, awkard silence began to fill the void around them. Buffy moved aside pushing the door open the rest of the way to allow Xander to enter the barren house, which only lessened to chill of the air by a minimal amount, considering the house had no electricity. "Sorry for the lack of lighyness," Buffy apologized. "I hear the electric company recently went under."

Xander smiled at her joke as he pulled the door shut behind him. The sound of the latch echoed in the empty house. Buffy stumbled slighty through the foyer until she reached the candle kept on the small table near the stairs and lit it to provide a faint sliver of light. Xander looked around at the remains of the house he once considered his safe haven. "No Dawnster, huh?" he questioned out loud. "How ever will we pass the hours until the sun comes up?" He attempted a wink, but the lack of both eyes killed off his joke.

"I was kind of planning on sleeping," Buffy stated bluntly, ignoring Xander's sexual comment. "I never realized how tired I was until my full time job of 8 years suddenly closed for business. I could sleep for days, if it weren't for the nightmares."

"I know a thing or two about nightmares," Xander closed some of the gap bewteen them and put a hand on Buffy's shoulder. "There's not many nights where I don't wake up screaming Anya's name. Sleeping alone seems weird and makes waking up almost unbearable."

"I know how that feels. Sleeping with Spike was one of the most real things I felt the last few months."

Xander grimaced, "Uhm, ew!"

"Not in that way," Buffy protested and playfully pushed Xander away, pouting. She then took Xander by the arm and tugged him toward the stairs. "Let's go get some sleep. We can talk about more depressing things when the sun is up."

"Am I already dreaming or did you really invite me to bed with you?" Xander seemed genuinely stunned, but he followed her to the second story grabbing the lit candle to help guide his way with his lacking depth perception.

"Just for tonight,"she confirmed. "And just for sleep. It might do us both some good to share some quality shut eye. Maybe each others company will give us a well rested night. Then we can talk about why you're here in the morning. Unless you want to sleep in a separate room. Dawn's is cleared out, but I haven't gone through the other rooms yet."

"I think I'll bunk with you if you don't mind. I would feel seriously cradle robbery for sleeping in the Dawnster's bed."

"Then you can stay with me," Buffy almost demanded. "Please."

Xander stopped midstep to the bedroom. When Buffy faced him, he gave her a look of awe, dumbfoundedness, and sincereity all at once. "Buff," he sighed her name. "I'm here for you. I can't stand being without my best friends anymore. I'm here with you in whatever you do." Tears were forming in both of their eyes. For a while neither of them said anything or moved at all. Then Buffy advanced to Xander and planted a kiss on his cheek before taking him in for another embrace. He made sure to hold the candle out of the way.

"Thank you," she whispered in his ear.

"Any time." They made their way into Buffy's old room onto the bare mattress that had been pulled on the floor to make room for the once bustling house, and they fell asleep in each others arms. This was the first night since Buffy shared a bed with Spike where she didn't have nightmares, and judging by the lack of screaming on his end, she figured Xander had slept peacfully as well.

She woke only once to move her arm from under Xander's shoulder and turn on her side to face him. She didn't know why he had decided to come back now, but she was grateful to have a friend with her. It made the harsh reality that was her life a little more bearable knowing that not all of her friends and loved ones had abandoned her in the ruins of her devastated former life. Once the sun came up, she would let him know of her plans to move on and hope he was willing to join her. She didn't think she could summon the strength to follow through on her own.

Xander rolled awake onto his side facing Buffy, his one eye looking into both of hers. He pushed some hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. "What's up, Buff?"

She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. She placed a hand on his and squeezed firmly until their fingers locked together. "When you're alone, in the dark, and scared, do you still ask yourself 'what would Buffy do?'" she asked him.

He smiled at her and half shrugged. "Always."

"Well, what would I do?"

"Sleep," he answered and leaned toward her until their foreheads met. "Whatever is in your head can wait until tomorrow." With that, they both closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep again.


	3. Chapter 3

Xander opened his eyes to a dirty, concrete floor he was laying on. His good eye was pressed into the hard surface, leaving his vision severely imparied. He pushed himself up into somewhat of a pushup position and looked around at his surroundings. Across from him lay a small female body, curled facing away from him, with her blond curls spilled down to the floor. Debris and rubble crumbled from the walls and ceiling falling over the declicate curve of the girl's body. _No_ , Xander thought _. I have to save her. I have to save Buffy._ He dragged himself across the floor of dust, rocks, and broken glass desperately trying to reach Buffy and wake her before she was buried in the crumbling building. His hand finally reached her shoulder and he gave her a slight jostle. Buffy lay motionless at his touch. He tried to shake her awake a little more forcibly, at no avail. He finally tugged on Buffy's shoulder pulling her to face him.

 _Anya._ Her lifeless body lay before him, nearly bissected vertically. Blood drenched her clothes and clotted in the curls that fell around her neck. Her glassy eyes stared straight into his own, emotionless and empty. He released his hold on her letting her body slump to the ground and he began to back away form her. He needed to run away. He needed to get himself to safety. As he began to rise on his feet, Anya's head turned to him and gave him a hard look, freezing him in his tracks. He lowered down to the floor once again.

"Anya."

She opened her mouth to speak to him, but the voice that came out wasn't entirely her own. Grave, demonic undertones garbled the once sweet sound of her voice and blood poured from her lips as her words were ground out of her.

"You left me here to die," the deceased voice growled at him. "You left me to save your friends. To save yourself."

Tears welled in Xander's eye and a hard lump choked him as he fought himself to respond. "I'm sorry." That was all he could choke out to say to her. He was sorry. He loved her more than anything and he did leave her to help save the others. He stood fully erected and looked down on Anya's mangled body soaked in blackened blood . Her eyes followed him. "I have to go now," he said quietly. "I need to find Buffy."

He turned away and took an unsteady step away from his former soon-to-be wife. He stopped as her voice twisted out one final warning. "You're never going to be happy. Your life is already over. You're dead, just like I am when you left me."

He paused letting the words sink into him, and then he walked away from her as the ceiling collapsed completely and buried his dead lover's body in a cascade of rubble.

Xander jolted awake in a cold sweat. He lifted himself off the bare mattress and took in his surroundings. The sun as just begun to rise and filled the room with a dim light. Next to him, Buffy slept facing away from him, her blond hair had become a slightly frizzy mess and fell around her shoulders, just like Anya's had in his dream. He stood from the bed and slowly made his way out of the bedroom, studying Buffy the entire way out, just to make sure it was really her and not another dream. He made his way into the bathroom, found an unsoiled hand towel and a gallon of water Buffy kept in replacement of running water, and wet the towel to wipe the sweat from his face. He then padded his way downstairs and into the kitchen. He searched the nearly bare cupboards for some sort of food. He settled for a half eaten, stale box of cookies and a room temperature bottle of water. He stood at the kitchen sink munching on his lukewarm breakfast while staring out the window. He hadn't had a dream of Anya where she spoke to him. It shook him and he wasn't sure what he should do.

Should he tell Buffy? What if it meant something? Of course it didn't. He's not a slayer or a witch or a demon. He never had any sort of mystical power, so why would his dreams mean anything special? _It was just a nightmare_ , he reasoned to himself. _Just something my brain did to me from seeing Buffy or from coming back to Sunnydale_. Sunnydale. Of course. He had bolted straight out of there as soon as he could after the battle. He came back to find his friends, and the place just brought back memories. Or maybe it was some residual evil lurking in the atmosphere from the Hellmouth. All he knew was that he needed to leave as soon as possible, with or without Buffy.

Buffy woke with the blinding light of the sun shining through her window. She had a relatively dreamless night of sleep. Once, she had heard a voice similar to Spike's calling her name, but there was no face with it, so she just brushed it off as residual memories. She turned to face Xander and greet him with a half enthusiatic _good morning_ , but was surprised to find his side of the bed vacant. She bolted from her bed and began frantically searching the house. She found him where he had stood at the kitchen sink staring out into the blinding light. She paused a moment before making her way to him slowly.

"It seems so empty now," Xander spoke aloud, still facing the window. "Doesn't it?" Buffy made her way next to her friend and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. Xander didn't flinch, or even stir at her touch. He kept his gaze facing out the window, staring at the nothingness that filled the horizon. Buffy said nothing, but instead filled the silence he had created with her own, pondering when she should fill Xander in on her plans. He then turned facing her, and she readied herself to speak.

"I'm leaving Sunnydale." They both spoke the same words at the same time. The silence that had just been broken began to thicken the air around them again as they stood staring at each other both in shock. Buffy spoke first.

"I was going to tell you about my plans today," she began nervously. "I need to get away, maybe go to L.A. and say goodbye to Angel and the rest of my old life. I figure the faster I can let go of hellish life I've been forced into, the quicker I can find out what it's like to be a normal girl."

Xander smiled at this. It was a happy thought to think of Buffy finally getting to live the life of a normal girl. A life she had longed for as long as he had known her. He reached out to Buffy and pulled her to his chest in a warming embrace. "I think it's time you did that," he said smiling into her hair. "It's a great thing, to go out and see the world you saved."

Buffy feared she may have hurt his feelings, just blurting out that she would be leaving right after her had taken the time to make his way back to her. She didn't want him to think she was trying to leave all of her old life behind, just the painful parts. The Hellmouthy parts. "I want you to come with me," she mumbled into his shoulder.

Xander held her out away from his chest as she said this. He looked her over a few times. Somehow, she seemed weak and frail to him now, not like the strong slayer he had always known. It was somewhat strange to see her in this delcate way, but also very comforting to know she could finally rest. He tucked a bed-frizzed curl behind her ear and cupped her cheek in his palm, looking her in the eyes. "I'm always with you. Let's go."

Buffy smiled and wiped a joyous tear from her eye. She decided to help Xander polish off the rest of the stale cookies and another bottle of water before they started preparing for their journey. The added component of Xander and his car made the travel plans much easier, now that she wouldn't have to plan for a light travel to walk to a bus stop of airport to make her way out of town, or even save extra money. All they had to do was pack up what she couldn't bear to leave behind, gather a supply of food, water, and medical supplies until they found a place to stay, and gather what money was left hidden, along with other valuable pieces of jewelry and magical artifacts that could be sold for extra cash.

By the time the sun had set, they had packed five duffle bags, two of which held clothing and weapons, one for food, one for supplies, and the final stuffed fulll of things to sell. They had cleared out most of the house, leaving only trash and broken bits of furniture on the floors. Buffy decided they didn't need to leave the house spotless, in the doubts that anyone would ever come to what was left of Sunnydale ever again. And if they did, they would need something to do to keep them busy in the electricity free scraps of a town. Buffy finished closing the zipper on a black backpack she saved for her own personal bag.

She had filled it with pictures of her mom, Dawn, and her friends, some books and small trinkets given to her a gifts, her cell phone Giles had gifted to her, and a small, silver Zippo lighter that had belonged to Spike. Xander returned from outside the house where he had been packing their bags away in the trunk of his car. Buffy looked up from her backpack as he reentered the living room.

"I'd say we're good to hit the road," he confirmed.

"Good," Buffy responded and stood. "We'll leave when the sun comes up. There's a hotel dad used to stay at when he would drive down to visit. It's about 30 minutes from here on the way to Los Angeles. That's where we will make our first stop."

"You're the boss, Buff," Xander agreed with her. Buffy and Xander then made their way up to her now bare bedroom, where they then curled up together again and slept in each others arms, now ready to start their journey to a new life. Xander woke only once this night. Buffy had stirred and pulled herself closer to his chest. The furrowed expression she wore in her sleep lead Xander to believe she was dreaming or having a nightmare. He pulled his arms around her tighter and kissed her forehead. _Do you still ask yourself "what would Buffy do?"_ , he replayed her question from the night before in his mind.

"Always," he whispered against her forehead before closing his eyes and falling back into sleep.

At 3:15 a.m. a black SUV pulled up and stopped in front of the Summers' house. Two men sat in the front seat, as they peered out the driver's side window at the dark house. The only sign of any life left was the silver car parked in front of the house.

"Is this the right place?" the passenger asked.

"Confirmed," the dirver said, looking up fron a small computer in his palm. "This is where we will make the drop. The girl can deal with it herself. It's her own problem now."

"What about the boss? Angel-"

"Will get what he gets," the driver interupted. "He needs to know what he is dealing with."

"Right," the passenger nodded as he took a drag from his cigarette. "So, tomorrow is when we are going to do this?"

"Tomorrow." With that, the driver handed the computer to his passenger, and they drove away from the house.


	4. Chapter 4

The following morning, Buffy and Xander prepared to depart for Los Angeles and leave the familiar house behind. The previous night, they had done all of their packing and loaded Xander's rental with their bags. They spent the morning sharing stashed away bags of chips and bottled water and doubling checking all the rooms for any items that may have gone unnoticed or left behind. Before they left the house for the final time, Buffy stood in the doorway staring into the empty house. Saying a silent, final goodbye, she knelt down and lay her favorite stake on the front porch. _Won't be needing this anymore,_ she mused to herself, although she had two or three stashed in the bags of clothes and Mr. Pointy tucked in her backpack. Xander stood at her side silently. Once Buffy stood, Xander sank down and placed a small token next to the discarded stake.

"That's Anya's ring," Buffy noted somewhat surpised. Xander rose and stared down at the glimmering piece of jewelry Anya once wore with pride. The symbol of their everlasting love he had once given to her seemed so petty now. Yes, he still loved her, but she was gone now and even before that, he had broken that everlasting bond when he called of the wedding.

Silence cloaked the spaces around the two friends as Xander let his memories of what could have been replay in his head and then said his goodbyes, just as Buffy had. Finally, he spoke, "I'm leaving some things behind, too."

Buffy turned to look at Xander. He felt her gaze fall on him and turned to meet her with his own. Her eyes searched him for an explaination she couldn't seek. He understood her unspoken questions emploring him to give her answers.

"I had a dream about her. Anya," he began. Noting the worry in Buffy's eyes he continues on. "She was dead, or dying. Or maybe even possesed by the First. I don't know, but she spoke to me. She tried to scare me. And I decided I don't need to keep holding on to something I can't hold on to. You know?"

"Xander," Buffy almost sighed his name. "You don't have to let Anya go. She was almost your wife and now she's dead. That's not something you need to let go of."

Xander nodded at her words. "Yes it is. I'm looking to find myself a new life, too. One where I don't fall in love with demons or bug people." Buffy smiled and let out a small chuckle. "Besides, I think that's what my dream Anya wanted me to do. She wants me to let her go." He gave a little shrug. "Or I want me to let her go because dream Anya is mean to me. Either way, I'm leaving the past here in Sunny-D, hopefully with all of my demons as well."

"Well, then," Buffy affirmed as she shifted her backpack that hung off one shoulder. She offered her other arm to Xander, bent slightly at the elbow in an invitation to link their arms together as if they were skipping through the meadows together. "Shall we?" Xander looked at her arm and reached his hand to hers, guiding her fingers to entwine with his own.

"We shall." He gave her hand a gentle squeeze then released her fingers as he walked to the car, unlocking the doors before sliding in the driver's seat. Buffy followed him and made her way to the passenger's side, slid in the car next to him, placing her backpack at her feet, and closed the door. One final look at the house for the pair, then they left for the road with Buffy giving Xander directions to the motel her father frequented and the new lives in store for them both.

The hot, midday sun beat down on the weathered pavement as a set of tires rolled down the road and screeched to a halt outside of the newly vacant house. A man dressed in a neatly pressed suit stepped out of a black SUV and slammed the door, clutching a puffy, sealed envelope in his hands. He stood in the center of the road staring at the house now without the presence of a small silver sedan. Another door slammed shut and hurried footsteps made their way to meet the suited man.

"The car's gone," the passenger observed to the driver.

"Yes, indeed the car is absent," the driver confirmed. "Perhaps it was a visitor or the girl needed to go out to find some goods."

"I think she's gone." The driver became rigid with anger due to the possibility brought forth from his cohort.

"I suggest we check the perimeter of the house for clues," he offered to his passenger. "If she is gone, there are a few partners of ours that will not be happy." Both men scrambled to the property that once belonged to the Summers girls and quickly circled the outside of the house peering through windows and doors for any sign of the former, solitary slayer. After a few moments of intense searching had passed, the now furious driver, advanced to the front door and gave it a quick, rough kick. The door splintered at the latch but swung open without much force needed. It wasn't locked.

"I do believe this is not a good sign," the driver mumbled under his breath as he peered into the dark house, stripped of all the things that made it a home. "It's bare. She's gone."

"Uh, hey," the passenger stammered on the porch behind the driver. "What's that?" The dirver turned to look at his passenger and then followed his gaze down to the ground between their feet. A stake and a diamond ring lay on the porch together, posed as if left as a shrine. The driver huffed and pulled a small camera fron his breast pocket, snapped a few pictures, and returned the camera to its sheath. He then motioned to his passenger to return to the car, where they both entered, package still in hand, and screeched the tires as they sharply turned the vehicle around and left the abandoned house behind.

Buffy flopped down on the plushy motel bed. It had been weeks since she slept in a properly made bed, let alone one that was clean. It was late afternoon by the time they had found the motel, checked in, and settled for the night. It was too much too soon to just bolt to L.A. and she was tired of rushing all the time. She had all the time in the world now, and she intended to enjoy every second of it. Xander wiggled the door open, balancing bags of fast food and a drink tray in one hand, while fumbling his keys and the room key in the other. Buffy sat on the bed and watched Xander as he awkardly managed to get himself in the room, the door shut, and the keys flung on the doorside table without spilling any of the food or drinks.

"You 'right, Xander?"

"Dandy," Xander replied to Buffy's question. "I come with warmish food of the drive-thru variety and cold beverages of the thck and thin variety."

"Huh?" Buffy shot him a confused look.

"I bought milkshakes," he clarified.

"Ooooh," Buffy gushed over the thought of a warm meal and a delicious, frothy shake to rinse it down. Frankly, the well-lit motel room and a TV with three static filled channels seemed like a paradise compared to what she had been living in for the last few weeks. She sat upright and held her hands out to retreive the drink carrier from Xander as he slid on the bed next to her, placing two plastic bags stuffed full of burgers and fries and personal pies in the space between them.

"What's the entertainment for this exquisite meal, mi'lady?" Xander mused mimicking his best aristocratic accent.

"Snow, more snow, or snowy news," Buffy responded as she stuffed a handful of fries into her mouth. "Unless you want to blow $12 for a movie and we skip breakfast."

Xander snatched the tv remote up and flipped to the movie menu. "Motel has a continental breakfast buffet tomorrow morning, and I packed plastic baggies to squirrel away foods and other gooey goodies. Horror, drama, comedy, or uplifting, spiritual animal movie?"

They flipped throught the menu and landed on an action movie with lots of explosions and gunfire. Between the pair of them, they polished off 6 burgers and 4 large fries, a couple pies, both milkshakes and their drinks as well. By the time the movie ended, both their stomachs felt heavy and filled to the point where they couldn't move. The movie ended and the tv switched to one of it's three static filled channels, but the two friends had long passed out on the soft bed after gorging themselves with the luxury of a full meal that consisted of more than just stale perishables and room-temperature water. Hours passed as the two slept until a shrill noise echoed through the room, jolting Buffy awake more so than Xander, who grunted and rolled to his side.

"Oh, shoot," Buffy exclaimed realizing the noise was the sound of the cell phone Giles had gifted to her just days before. She sprang from the bed to her backpack, glancing at the digital clock on the nightstand. It was just after 4a.m. _Who is calling me at 4 in the morning_? She finally grasped the phone, flipped it open and held it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Buffy!" Dawn's cheery voice filled the other line.

"Dawnie, I love you," Buffy began groggily, sleep still on her mind. " But if you ever call me this early again, I will fly to Ohio and shove your phone down your throat."

"Oh, sorry," Dawn apologized. "I forgot about the time difference. It's 7 here."

"Which I would also be angry for receiving a deafening phone call at that time as well. Whadya want?" Buffy grabbed the motel key and slipped out the door as to not wake Xander from his sleep.

"Giles wanted me to give you a call," Dawn explained. "He wanted to know if, you know, you made it to see Angel yet."

"No," Buffy sighed and wiped sleep from her eyes. "I'm heading that way today. We're at that motel, you know the one dad used to stay at."

"We?" Dawn questioned sharply.

"Oh, right," Buffy shook her head to wake herself up more. "Xander found me the other day. Well, it's not like I was missing, but he came to the house. He decided to come with me. Says he's tired of being alone after running off, well, alone."

"Mmm-hmmm."

"What's that supposed to mean, the 'mmm-hmmm'?"

"Oh, nothing," Dawn began. "Except the Xander hanging with you because he doesn't want to be alone." She drug the emphasis on her last word.

"It's not like that, Dawn," Buffy explained. "Besides, it's nice to have someone with you who can drive. Totally beats taking the bus."

"Right, and then you can hold hands over the gear shift and play license plate games together while you fall in love."

"Dawn!"

"What's that Buffy?" Dawn faked yelling into the phone as if the connection were breaking up. "I think I'm losing service. Must be that Ohio nature I've heard so much about. You need your sleep anyway. Give Xander a kiss, then tell him you love him for me. Bye!" The connection between the two phones died and left Buffy in an awkward silence fueled with aggravation from her younger sister's teasing. _Xander is so not in love with me_ , she thought to herself. _He's just broken a little. We all are_.

She took the room key in hand and unlocked the door. Once inside, she laid her phone and the key on the stand and made her way back to the bed. She curled up on the bed facing Xander and stared at him for a long while. His hair had gotten shaggy and curled around his forehead and over his ears. He lay with his patched eye against the coolness of the bed and his mouth was slightly open. She turned to face away from him and let her mind fill with thoughts about what Dawn had said. _There is just no way that could ever happen_ , she reasoned. _We've been friends for so long. It's like he's my brother_. Just then, Xander slipped his arm around her waist and pulled their bodies together. He buried his face in her hair and began snoring softly.

 _Or maybe it's not so crazy_ , she thought.


End file.
